On Tuesday evening, House and Senate appropriators released the FY 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill (HR 83), which will fund TEAs through Department of Interior for the first time.

Here is the BIA section of the Interior explanatory statement. On page 24, it provides that:

Education.- The agreement includes $2,000,000 for the development and operation of tribal departments or divisions of education as authorized in 25 U.S.C. 2020.

This funding through the Department of Interior has been authorized since 1988 (seeNARF Orange Book at 5), but Congress has never appropriated the money. TEDNA and its partner organizations, NIEA and NCAI, have long advocated for fulfillment of this promise. The bill, which is expected to be passed by both the House and Senate later this week, will mean new capacity-building grant opportunities for TEAs, which will expand tribal involvement in Indian education. The STEP Program, which TEDNA long advocated for and was also a first of its kind, is a similar appropriation through the Department of Education.

You can see Quinton Roman Nose’s Testimony to the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for FY 2015 here, and for FY 2014 here. You can also see other budget requests in our Congressional Materials section. We will provide more information as it becomes available.